Anyone ever pan Cache Creek in CO ?

[cocrh]

Plan on heading up that way soon and was hoping someone had something to say about it and any color found. Thanks!

 

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[Old Dog]

You can find color ...
But like any creek with color,
It depends on where you are panning.

I suggest getting below the high water mark and work the cracks of the bedrock.
Or if you can find them there are a couple sand bars on the inside of the curve of the creek bends.

Thom

 

[russau]

i havent been on it(or should i say,in it ) but i have friends that have dredged this creek for gold.

 

[cocrh]

Did they find anything good when they dredged? If they are dredging it there must be some color in it. I am just looking to get a few little flakes a wee bit bigger than flour I will be using my new Keene A51 sluice too as soon as I locate a good place.

 

[jewelerdave]

Any place in the cache Creek area where its open to the public will have gold, just be sure to get a permit to go there., you can get one at the BLM office for the area, I believe its in Canyon City. This is easy info to look up and can be done via the mail.

As for gold there. if you get to the paying gravels that are not someones tailings there is decent gold.
Anyone can get some dust and flakes with just a pan.

If you dig a new hole and get though the tailings rewards are woth the effort. no dredging in the creek though,
However there are many springs with adequate water flow in the mornings to do some panning and maybe a small sluice. I was able to set up a high banker a few years back and by carrying buckets of gravel to the high banker from my hole did quite well.

Also, look for places where people panned, a lot of inexperienced people go though there and pan there cons in the small pools and springs, Re panning can be quite lucrative.

Good luck.

 

[cocrh]

Thanks for the tips Dave!! Going up in a week or two.

 

[CaptainRobin]

If this is the Cache Creek 'twinxt Buena Vista and Leadville, I used to pan/sluice it back in the early '80's while I was stationed at Ft. Carson. I knew nothing of prospecting at the time (still know very little) other than what I'd read, but still had a good time and found good color. I had a vial full of fines and flakes, even a few small pickers, but one of my boys ('bout three years old) got a'hold of it, opened it, and strew it on the carpet. Very small recovery from THAT..... but I still have a corner of the vial.....

I drove north from Buena Vista, towards Leadville, turned off just north of the bridge crossing the creek, and headed "up country" to the west in a '76 Pontiac Le Mans until I couldn't go no mo.... I beat the dickens outta that car up there.....

There were lots of coyote holes along the high banks of the creek. I'd stay out of them, we had one cave on us.... we were young and stupid, but no one was injured. The coyote holes didn't yield much in the way of panning material, but if the larger rocks were bristle brushed into a bucket of water and then panned we got lots of small flakes and an occasional picker. Just about every pan of gravel from the creek would yield color, but it was fine. Lots of black sand, but it did hold color.

I could only get a couple or three miles west of the highway in the LaMans, but there was a crew farther upstream who had a dozer up there and were removing overburden, working the bedrock, and doing rather well. I saw some really nice nuggets they'd recovered.

There were lots of cut-throat trout in the creek then, 6-12 inches long. They would bite anything thrown into the water. Ate a bunch of camp fire cooked trout on those weekends.

The remains of old flumes were all along the southern ridge above the creek. I didn't check the higher banks, didn't know to, and didn't use a metal detector. Would like to nugget shoot the area knowing what I do now. Keep it in mind.....

Good luck, stay safe, and let us know how you do up there.

Let me know if there's still trout in the stream.....

Robin

 

[russau]

robin thats the Arkansas River between Leadville and Buena Vista right off highway 24

 

[nuggetshooter323]

A public prospecting area is located on Cache Creek just west of Granite. You can also prospect Cache Creek from the City of Golden upstream all along highway 9. In Golden itself, you can pan in the creek in the city park right off of Washington Avenue.

 

[CaptainRobin]

russau..... I know that's the Arkansas River just east of the highway.... panned in it, white-water rafted in it.

I'm describing a small creek that comes under the highway from the west, just north of Granite, that leads into the mountains. I was told it was Cache Creek, and it empties into the Arkansas.

Robin

 

[russau]

ok i must have misunderstood.

 

[jewelerdave]

A public prospecting area is located on Cache Creek just west of Granite. You can also prospect Cache Creek from the City of Golden upstream all along highway 9. In Golden itself, you can pan in the creek in the city park right off of Washington Avenue.

Its Clear Creek that goes up though Golden, Good gold in Golden but hand panning only.
Upstream you can use power equipment and can do well.